Theoretical Approaches in Social Therapy - Essay Example

THEORETICAL APPROACHES: A CRITICAL EVALUATION College Theoretical Approaches: A Critical Evaluation Narrative therapy is one of the counselling methods that social therapists employ to help their clients in the society. For instance, in Australia, Dulwich Centre is an institution that employs narrative therapy to address social problems within this society. This method focuses on the experiences, the beliefs, the values and attitudes that define the behaviour of the people. This method separates the problem with the people and gives individuals the power to work against their problems by using their own personal values, experiences and beliefs that can support them in this function (Payne, 2006). In short, these methods give people an optimistic attitude by empowering them to become experts of their own problems (White & Epston, 1990). The narrative therapy approach requires that the clients their experiences as problem saturated stories and the therapists identify certain values and strengths that the client can use to work out the challenges in their lives. This method of counselling has won the favour of many social workers due to numerous strengths. First, the method gives the person the power to work more independently in solving their own problems. The main role of the therapist is to help the client to identify the values and the beliefs that can help them in working against the problem. Therefore, the client becomes more independent and learns how to face their problems. Secondly, this method isolates the problem from the client and allows the patient to look at it from a different angle (Allen, 2012). As such, this method helps the client to look at the problem from a contextual perspective, giving the power to face the problem more boldly. However, this method suffers from a number of weaknesses that make it less effective. To begin with, this method seems to hold that there is no specific way in handling problems. Therefore, it makes it a big challenge for the therapist to identify the patient problems and to define an effective way in which the problem can be diffused. Secondly, certain groups of patients are less likely to respond to such a collaborative approach. The collaborative approach requires people whose mental capacity is strong enough to identify problems and their effects. Such people may fail to understand their problems and any efforts to help them solve these problems may fail to work (Harms, 2012). Therefore, this method is likely to work for some group of individuals whose’ potential to solve problems independently may be limited. The socio-cognitive therapy approaches apply the socio-cognitive theories that suggest that it is possible to model human behaviour by using the experiences of others in the community (Van & Thomson, 2011). The socio-cognitive theories state that human beings do not have to learn by experimenting and failing or succeeding in every action. However, it is possible to learn by observing the behaviour of others and evaluating their success. The belief of these approaches is that there certain right ways in which to things and that therapists should use this kind of approach to handle their clients. Optimally, people should encourage positive behaviour by rewarding it and discourage negative behaviour by punishing it. On this note, therapists use this kind of approach to assist their clients but fostering positive change behaviour and helping them to overcome negative behaviours. These methods are very practical in handling very recurrent problems that occur within clients. Since every kind of psychological problem has certain associated signs, it is possible to use the same approaches to resolve the problem. If one method works for a specific person, then it is likely to work for any other person with the same psychological problem. On this note, this method becomes easy to apply and to resolve recurring problems more easily. For instance, the social worker can use this method to solve the problems of the refugees in Australia. Since most refugees in Australia are from Iraq and other countries, this approach can be able to meet their social needs in a similar approach. Secondly, this problem is flexible and gives the therapist the power to support positive behaviour within the client and to help them to stop any negative behaviour that may result to development of the psychological problems in the clients (Stallard & Ebooks Corporation, 2002). On this note, this method can work for all groups of individuals in the society. However, the critics of this method refer to the idea of socio-cognitive therapists that each method responds the same way for all human beings. However, it is clear that human problems are complex and unique characteristics of human beings make it impossible to handle all problems in the same way. Therefore, methods that work for certain people may fail for others. Secondly, the methods make the client dependent on the therapist during the period of the therapy. Therefore, the method may not be efficient when the patient is finally free on their own (Stallard & Ebooks Corporation, 2002). Therefore, the method of therapy has its own weaknesses that make it unsuccessful in some situations. Any method of therapy is dependent on the personal characteristic and its working may be different for specific populations. One of the factors that may inhibit the success of a specific method of therapy is the cultural difference. People from different cultures have unique needs that arise from their own believes. For an Australian worker, this method may not be efficient since they have to deal with a multicultural environment, where believes influence the attitude of the people. A method such as the socio-cognitive therapy seems to look at individuals as the same irrespective of their cultures and believes. However, cultural beliefs determine the efficiency of specific methods (Payne & Campling, 2005). For instance, when some people in Australia believe that madness may be a result to witchcraft, other feel that it is a medical case and this will determine the ability of therapists to work along with the patient in diffusing the problem. Therefore, it is important to understand the various cultural believe of the people before administering any form of therapy. Additionally, cultural belief affects the attitude of a patient to treatment and hence the acceptability of specific methods of treatment. Therefore, understanding human behaviour is important before handling their specific problems. Also, the method of therapy is dependent of the development stage of the patient. The development stage of a patient influences their understanding of the problem and consequently the therapy methods used to solve these methods. For instance, the understanding of a problem by a child is different from that of an adult. For methods such as the narrative therapy that require that the client uses their own skills, experiences and believes in isolating and solving the problem will depend on the capacity of the client (Wallis et al., 2011). For instance, a child will not understand their problems and this will make it hard to solve their own problems in the long run. Therefore, they require depending on the therapist to ensure that the treatment procedure is efficient. However, the method is superior for adults who can narrate their problems well and identify the problems independently (Debbie Plath, 2006). For instance, while handling a drug patient, it is impossible to let them understand the need for dropping the habit unless the therapist is actively involved in the transformation process. Comparing the socio-cognitive and the narrative therapy techniques shows that there exist both differences and similarities. One major similarity between the two methods is that both require a collaborative approach in handling the clients. In the narrative therapy method, the therapist helps the client to isolate the problem and empower them in becoming experts to solve their own problems (Gleaves, 1996). Similarly, in the socio-cognitive approach, the client and the therapist work together to identify the problems and the best therapy for the problem. Another similarity is that these methods are both person-centred and seek to solve the client’s problems through understanding their problems. However, there is a great difference in application of these methods among different categories of people. For instance, the applicability of the two methods among people of different age will vary considerably. The narrative therapy method may fail to work for young children and people with complex health disorders that make them unable to understand their own problems (Morgan, 1999). For instance, it is impossible to empower young children to understand their problems and work independently to solve them. On the other hand, the socio-cognitive methods may work well for young children as these methods seek to address the problems in an integrative manner. Rewarding the right behaviour and punishing the wrong behaviour makes it easy to correct children behaviour. In conclusion, not one specific method of therapy can satisfy the therapy needs of the society. The therapy methods are limited by individual characteristics, cultural believes, age, society background that may affect the therapy process. On this note, it is crucial that every therapist understands all the methods and to use them appropriately depending on the client characteristics. As these methods are different, they will require to be used where their output or results are optimal (Brian & Trainor, 2002). For instance, it is advisable for a therapist to use the narrative therapy approach for older patients and to use the socio-cognitive methods for younger patients. This suggests that an integrative approach would ensure that unique needs of the patients are attended using the most appropriate method. The expertise of a psychological counsellor will depend on their ability to blend both kinds of therapy techniques to meet the unique needs of the clients. 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